A funeral Mass was offered Feb. 12 for Daughter of Charity Sister Joan Drega (Josephine Mary) in the Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg. Sister Joan, a Baltimore native who served as a regional director of development for her order, died Feb. 7 at 88.
She was a 1954 graduate of the now-closed Seton High School in Charles Village and taught at St. Dominic School in Hamilton (1968-70).
Sister Joan was born April 27, 1936, in Baltimore to Francis Walter and Florence (Ziomek) Drega. Before entering the Daughters of Charity in 1955, she was a member of St. Elizabeth Parish in Highlandtown.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in dducation in 1965 from the now-closed St. Joseph College in Emmitsburg. She also earned master’s degrees from Trinity College in Washington, D.C, and the University of Dayton in Ohio.
Elsewhere, she ministered in New York, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, and the Archdiocese of Washington.
She served as development director for the former Daughters’ Southeast Province in Emmitsburg (1998-2006). She later ministered as a foundation liaison in Jacksonville, Fla., at St. Vincent’s Medical Center and at St. John Providence Health System in Detroit. Sister Joan also worked in the development office at Providence Health in Novi, Mich.
In 2020, she ministered at Bethany Community in Emmitsburg, serving in development at Seton Heritage Ministries. In 2022, she began serving in the ministry of prayer at Villa St. Michael in Emmitsburg.
Sister Joan was known for her sense of humor, love of life and crab feast fundraisers, always with the focus of assisting those who were living in poverty, according to a Daughters of Charity obituary.
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